This invention relates to packaging tapes and more particularly to packaging tape that permits accurate identification and tracking of packages.
Various technologies have been developed for identifying and tracking objects. The most common involves application of identifying bar codes to objects and optically scanning those codes to identify the objects or certain other relevant coded characteristics, e.g., size, model, price, etc. A more recent development is radio frequency identification technology, commonly known as RFID technology. RFID devices, commonly called RFID tags, are thin transponders (transceivers) that include an integrated circuit chip having RF (radio frequency) circuits, control logic and memory, plus an antenna, all mounted on a supporting substrate. RFID devices are either of the active type or passive type. The active type include a battery for powering the transceiver. The passive type has no battery and derives its energy from the RF signal used to interrogate it. The RFID transponder operates to receive, store and transmit object-identifying data to and from the memory within the chip. The device functions in response to coded RF signals received from a base station. Typically it reflects the incident RF carrier back to the base station, and information stored in the device is transmitted back to the interrogating base station by modulating the reflected signal according to the programmed information protocol.
Recent developments have produced thin RFID tags on flexible organic substrates, with the overall thickness of the tags being of the order of a fraction of a millimeter, typically about 1.5 mils thick. Various materials have been used as the organic substrate of commercial RFID tags, including but not limited to thin flexible films of a polyester such as Mylar(copyright) or a polyimide such as Kapton(copyright). The antenna may comprise pre-formed wires that are attached to the substrate, but more commonly it is a thin film element, usually consisting of 25 to 25 micron thick copper lines formed by plating copper onto the flexible organic substrate or by etching in the case where the substrate is a copper/organic material laminate. Further information regarding the manufacture and use of RFID transponders is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,140, issued Mar. 5, 1996 to J. R. Tuttle; U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,222, issued Jun. 18, 1996 to P. A. Moskowitz et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,441, issued Oct. 22, 1996 to M. J. C. Marsh et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,473, issued Aug. 26, 1997 to J. P. Paschal; U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,143, issued Oct. 28, 1997 to M. J. Brady et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,995,951, issued Sep. 21, 1999, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,299, issued Jan. 25, 2000 to N. H. Eberhardt,
The greatest disadvantage of bar codes is that they are not dynamic carriers of information. With bar codes the stored information is static. Consequently information stored in bar codes on an object cannot be updated as it travels, for example, from a shipper to a receiver. In contrast, RFID tags offer the capability of updating recorded information at any time and in real time. RFID transponders are of particular value to industries that need to quickly and accurately track and manage very large numbers of objects. The passive type of RFID tag is particularly valuable in relation to inventory management and control because it offers a long life data storage and retrieval capability, since it draws its energy and transfers information in the form of low power radio waves resulting from operation of the read/write module of a base station.
The primary object of the invention is to facilitate and extend the use of RFID transponders as a means of identifying and tracking packages, whereby to improve inventory management and control of packages while in transit from a shipper to a receiver.
A more specific object is to provide a novel means of attaching RFID tags to packages or other objects.
These objects are achieved by incorporating a plurality of RFID transponders in a packaging tape that is supplied in roll form to users. The tape may be of a reinforced or non-reinforced type. Other features and advantages of the invention are disclosed in the following detailed description which is to be considered together with the accompanying drawings.